10 Video Games Based on Real Life Events

There are some who enjoy video games purely because the characters, settings, and events featured are generally so outrageous that they’re able to provide just enough of a moment of wonderment to wash away the thoughts of everyday burdens, if only for a while. Then there are those who enjoy video games because, as with any medium of entertainment, there’s something to be learned from it, be it emotionally or factually. That’s where these 10 video games based on real life events begin to shine.

Assassin’s Creed Series

Since 2007, the Assassin’s Creed series has developed a franchise steeped in history. You’ll often find yourself learning a lot, be it from the extra information the games offer you (courtesy of Shaun Hastings), or just because the protagonists of the series just can’t help but stumble into historically significant figures and/or events. It makes sense for the most part, since your targets are generally those who sought to shape the future, like Robert De Sable, the Borgias, Sehzade Ahmet, and Charles Lee, to name a few.

Brothers In Arms: Earned in Blood

If historical accuracy is indeed what you seek, then perhaps Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood will satisfy your hunger for history. The events following D-Day are told from a couple of different perspectives, mainly Seargent Joe “Red” Hartsock, commanding several platoons over the course of Operation Overlord, such as the Battle of Carantan, and the Battle of Bloody Gulch. The game has events recounted by Hartsock for army historian, Colonel S.L.A Marshall. While certain characters, such as the protagonist, are wholly fictitious, the game overall was able to quite accurately depict the WWII events that would ultimately liberate Northwest Europe from the Nazis.

Kholat

On a considerably smaller scale is the lesser known Dyatlov Pass Incident which occurred on the 2nd of February, 1959. The incident involved nine experienced hikers from the former Ural Polytehnical Institute, all of which were found dead on beneath Kholat Syakhl (Dead Mountain) from mysterious circumstances over the course of four months. While the indie survival-horror game, narrated by Sean Bean, doesn’t use the real names of the people involved, it does follow the known events relatively closely, which makes the game that much more eerie.

Medal of Honor Series

Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few video games out there that follow the events of WWII, while some of them take liberties with the real events in order to weave more simplistic and fast-paced tales, games such as those in the Medal of Honor series do not follow suit. In 2010, the series arose from dormancy and offered people the chance to play through its depiction of the Afghan war. The plot and characters are fictitious but the setting was praised. Although the game was subject to some of amount of expected controversy, owing to the teams featured in its multiplayer.

Age of Empires I & II

Many of you might hear or read ‘history’ and ‘video games’ and think, “that sounds like our favourite real-time strategy game, Age of Empires”. Well of course that series would be included on this list. We all remember how the Egypt rose from its humble beginnings. We all know how William Wallace defended Scotland from the English until the Battle of Falkirk. We all know how Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar’s brilliant wife, Ximena, helped to defend Valencia from the Almoravids under Yusuf Ibn Tashfin. We know all that because their campaign missions were each an excitingly woven tale we could unravel as we cleared the fog of war…or with assistance from good ol’ furious the monkey boy.